Enrique Gorostieta

Enrique Gorostieta (1889-2 June 1929) was a Mexican general during the Mexican Revolution and later the commander-in-chief of the Cristeros during the Cristero War.

Biography
Enrique Gorostieta Velarde was born in Monterrey, Mexico in 1889, and he received a secular education before serving under Victoriano Huerta during several victories over Emiliano Zapata during the Mexican Revolution. After the war, he became a soap manufacturer, but he longed for a return to his military adventures. In 1927, he was chosen by Miguel Gomez Loza as commander of the Cristeros, a Catholic rebel alliance which sought to end President Plutarco Elias Calles' anti-clerical laws. Gorostieta himself was an atheist who cared little for the Cristero cause, but he was motivated to fight by his wife's own devout Catholicism, by his support for religious freedom, and by the payment which the Cristeros promised him. He used his gift for military strategy to ensure that he was respected as the Cristeros' commander-in-chief, uniting the Cristero armies into a singular army with formal training and a central command system. He won the Cristeros' largest victory of the war at the Battle of Tepatitlan in 1929, but the Cristeros lacked support from the Catholic Church and suffered from internal divisions, rendering victory impossible. On 2 June 1929, Gorostieta was ambushed at his base by the Mexican Army in the Battle of Atotonilco, during which he managed to lead a costly breakout from the city before being unhorsed by a sniper. As he ran towards a stream on foot, he was shot dead by two Mexican Army sharpshooters.